Archos 70b Set to be First Affordable Android 3.2 Honeycomb Tablet

Archos, makers of some of the best Android tablets that you probably don’t hear about, today announced a little preview of their upcoming CES 2012 plans. The Archos 70b will be the first affordable tablet – i.e. under $200 – that will come out of the box running the Android 3.2 Honeycomb operating system. This is the successor to the Archos 70 tablet, with more that just Honeycomb added to it.

The new tablet will have an upgraded capacitive touch-screen and a 1.2 GHz processor. Like any full-blown Android tablet the Archos 70b will also come with the full suite of Google apps, along with the full Android Market. It has a 1024 x 600 screen, 512 MB of RAM, 3D graphics processing, HDMI out, and Micro SD. Additional information provided by Archos includes:

• An affordable price starting at $199 for 8GB
• Smoother multi-tasking and a faster web experience thanks to the upgraded RAM
• Brighter colors with a high resolution capacitive screen
• Android 3.2 Honeycomb, the Android version designed for a tablet
• Access to a full array of apps with the Android Market and its 300,000 apps such as news, eMagazines, eBooks, social media, games and more
• A full multimedia experience with upgraded multimedia ARCHOS apps for video and music
• HDMI output, giving users full access to their Android experience on their TV including all the pre-loaded apps, video playback, 3D games, photos and all the Android Market apps

The tablet is expected to be available for order in January, presumably after it’s official debut at CES. It’s already one of the products I am anxious to get a hands-on with, and possibly put on my wish list for the new year.